The purpose of this research paper, in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Court Executive Development Program, was to conduct an interim (early response) opinion survey and subsequent evaluation of a recently completed initial Phase of Fulton County, Georgia’s Comprehensive Justice Information System. This large public project was undertaken to automate the Fulton County justice system by integrating production databases in several departments. This would provide them access to critically needed criminal and civil case information. 

The goals and objectives of this survey and evaluation were to determine system user’s satisfaction with the hardware, software, and integration installed for use by these justice related departments. It also sought comments and suggestions from respondents to determine what modifications might be required to increase usability and efficiency. Additionally, this paper documents the planning, financing, and organization necessary to carry out this project and it includes the political, managerial, and technical issues which occurred during implementation.  

The research methodology utilized in this effort employed a user survey form, tailored to five categories of employees within the six departments canvassed. Each survey included approximately 23 statements, most of which were answered by  selection (circling) of one of five categories, including: Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree. Additionally, the survey included several open-ended statements prompting the respondent to provide suggestions or comments. Two hundred and twenty-five surveys were distributed and over 75% were returned.  

The Fulton County CJIS automation project, Phase I, was completed by the team of vendors on March 31, 2002. The objectives and deliverables of the vendor contracts were satisfactorily completed. Most production databases are in operation within justice system departments. Some, however, are more user-friendly and are more efficient in completing their respective missions.  

While technically and contractually satisfactory, the system has not operated as well as expected due to the fact that some software was several generations out of date by the time it was installed. Funds have been made available to update the largest of these, the Affiliated Computer Systems, Inc (ACS) Banner Courts software, used by the Superior and State Clerks, Court Administration and several other departments. The survey pointed out the dissatisfaction of most Banner users with the user-friendliness of the software. Also identified in the survey was the dissatisfaction with the Justice Data Link software which integrated (electronically tied together) the primary production databases. It was the recommendation of this paper that these databases be updated and modified as needed to provide the functionality and speed required by these departments. The study also recommended a follow-up survey to affected departments approximately one year after the software updates to determine levels of user satisfaction. If the satisfaction has not significantly improved, it is recommended that the respective software package(s) be replaced. The conclusion of this paper is that the contractual obligations were met in this project but the user’s expectations for the system, and for several software programs, were not met.

This research paper is available in its entirety in portable document format.  To access, you must first obtain and install the Adobe Acrobat Reader.